Teaching principles of geriatrics through a home health care rotation

To provide pharmacy students with ambulatory geriatric training, the University of Georgia School of Pharmacy developed a clinical rotation in home health care. This one-week experience in which students encounter patients in the home environment is offered as part of the four-week required clinical clerkship. While in the home setting the student is exposed to the various medical, social, and economic problems of the elderly and in turn provides the patient with nondispensing pharmaceutical services such as drug use review, drug histories, and patient education. The patients' medication regimens are discussed prospectively and retrospectively at daily conferences with the clinical preceptor and student peers. Students have evaluated the program as valuable in improving their communication skills and their knowledge of drugs and diseases of the geriatric patient.